I said then that UKOUG had had a tough few years and the governance structure had been changed to address that. The simplest ways to measure success in the user group is Membership and Financial Position. I am really pleased to say that by empowering the staff more and a very strict budget process, 2014 made a surplus and although the accounts are not yet complete we have also made a surplus in 2015.

Membership has been slowly dropping for a number of years but the rate has been reduced and retention is up. We are working on a number of initiatives to help here. Membership is not an easy metric, we have corporate memberships, many organisations have merged, several long time independents have moved to organisations already members, and many others have moved to Oracle as our eco system is adjusting to the 'digital disruption' affecting us all. Oracle has many new customers but we don't always know who they are and again we are working on initiatives with Oracle to help here.

The board is made up of 6 Directors, 3 appointed executive directors:We currently have a vacancy for CEO. Last year James Haslam left this role after many years and we had an interim in place with Pauline Drummond.David Rowntree our Financial Director retired at the end of the Year and Peter Weir his replacement is in place.Bryan Foss our Non Exec Director is in his second year on the board.

The other three Directors are voted by you the members.

Linda Barker is our President. Fiona Martin is our Member Advocate Chair and is in place until March of next of next year.The final place on the board is Member Advocate, the position I currently hold and that I am asking you to vote for me to stay.

With a new CEO to recruit and a new Finance Director we have a young board and quite frankly I know I can support them and help them navigate Oracle and understand the community we serve.

There is however several candidates this year and if you want someone new then vote for them. What I do want to do if I get re-elected is to work with those candidates as volunteers in key roles this coming year so that next year when Fiona's term is up and our rules say only two terms, we have engaged volunteers to stand, and if I am re-elected with your help, I too cannot stand again in 2018.

I work hard for UKOUG, both at a local and international level. I lead the initiatives for WIT, Next generation, Applications Innovation and the committees for Ireland and Apps at Conference.